THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Learning from the Storm: Intersection Caution Barricades Should Be Visible!

Posted on March 27, 2010 by John Bailey

WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By Town of Greenburgh Supervisior, Paul Feiner. March 27, 2010: I am writing to Westchester County Department of Emergency Services Commissioner Anthony Sutton and will be asking the county to apply for a grant to purchase battery powered barricades that can illuminate intersections closed during storms. These barricades should be made available to localities during storms. The town should also purchase these barricades for our own use if the county is unsuccessful in obtaining the barricades for localities.

During the most recent storm many roads around the county were closed. Downed trees and wires were blocking the roads.

My power was out for a few days and I had dinner one evening at my sister’s house in a neighboring jurisdiction. When I was driving home I made a sudden stop. Almost hit a tree. A yellow tape was the only indication that the road was closed. Many other roads around the county had inadequate signage advising of road closures.

SUGGESTION: the county should apply for stimulus funds to purchase battery powered road blocks with blinking lights. This would provide residents with some advance warning of road closures in the event of a disaster and avoid the possibility of drivers driving into trees. There were no Con Ed vehicles on the road I was on when I was driving on the road.

We should purchase (county-wide) more temporary stop signs that could warn people of closed roads

WP Democratic Leaders Agonize Over Mayor’s Plight. Consensus: Wait, See

Posted on March 26, 2010 by John Bailey

WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. March 26, 2010: The White Plains Democratic City Committee met Thursday evening at the White Plains YWCA,and expressed agony and concern over the plight of Mayor Adam Bradley as he awaits a Pre-Trial Conference next Thursday in domestic court after being charged with Third Degree Assault in an alleged incident involving his wife.

There was no consensus call for the Mayor’s resignation. Each of the Common Council persons did attend at various times , but did not address the issue of the Mayor’s plight, but focused their comments on city issues.

An observer who attended the meeting who spoke to WPCNR under condition of anonymity said the prevailing mood was “agonized,” “sad,” and though several persons spoke calling for the Mayor to resign, the consensus was that the legal process should be completed, and “we should wait and see.” “Many points of view were expressed.
There was not a call for the Mayor to resign. They were grieved. To have gone from such a bright hope to this in just two months, is unbelievable.”

He said there was much concern for Mr. Bradley, his wife, his children and earnest hope they could work out their problems.

Our source said, “There is zero tolerance for abuse. It was pointed out that public officials who have resigned over similar issues had admitted, ‘yes, this is true”

Mayor Adam Bradley did not attend the meeting.

Hudson Valley Unemployment Worsens. White Plains Holds Steady

Posted on March 26, 2010 by John Bailey

WPCNR THE LABOR NEWS. From Johny Nelson, New York State Department of Labor. (EDITED) March 26, 2010: The White Plains Unemployment Rate continued steady for the second consecutive month at 6.9% with 2,100 persons unemployed in the city labor force of 30,100 persons. White Plains is retaining jobs while Westchester County is losing them. County unemployment rose for the third consecutive month to 7.8% of the County labor force of 476,600 people. At the close of February, 67,100 persons were unemployed in the count. In December, the county rate was 7%.

The regional job market continues to reel from this economic downturn as 22,100 private sector jobs were shed (-3.1 percent) for the 12-month period ending in February 2010. Construction accounts for almost one in three jobs lost in the private sector. The construction sector lost about one in six of its local jobs (-16.5 percent) over the past year.

The region’s jobless rate surged from 7.5 percent in February 2009, to 8.1 percent in February 2010, tying January’s rate for an all-time high.

Private sector employment in the Hudson Valley decreased 22,100, or 3.1 percent, to 688,500 for the 12-month period ending February 2010.

Employment gains were focused in educational and health services (+2,500).

Job losses were centered in natural resources, mining and construction (-7,100), trade, transportation and utilities (-5,600), manufacturing (-4,200), professional and business services (-3,800), financial activities (-1,500), information (-1,200) and leisure and hospitality (-800). Government shed 3,400 jobs over the year.

School Board Did NOT Cut Enough.Revenue Loss 60% Higher Than Cuts Made

Posted on March 24, 2010 by John Bailey

WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS OP ED. By Larry Giordano. March 24, 2010: The following is the text of an “open letter” to the White Plains City School Board from White Plains’ Larry Giordano who examines the recently submitted Superintendent of Schools School Budget in light of current budget trends:

Pete, (Bassano, Member, White Plains Board of Education)

It was nice seeing you again. You look very professional up there which leads me to the conclusion that you and the rest of the board members must love PAIN! I want you to know I respect all of you for the fine work and effort you have done over the past years.

I was in total amazement listening to folks stand up there and air their personal concerns with a total disregard for the rest of the residential city tax payer. For one mother to complain about her son not having a period for BAND class or another about their son NEEDING a study period is totally nuts. Now, concerning the young lady who had issues at a younger age (I do have a heart though some in WP may not think so) my question is, since the same folks that pay taxes to the WP school district also pay taxes to county government why not use their services for social and health services and even other areas where an overlap may exist?

After looking at the breakdown of the budget it’s very easy to see the real savings has to come from the ~80% area that includes Instruction, Special Ed and Benefits. Let’s face it; going forward NYS revenue is going to continue to be a smaller piece of the revenue pie. This will unfortunately mean all NYS resident tax payers will be responsible for a greater portion of the revenue stream for their community.

To this end for the board to believe they can continue to pass on that additional cost moving forward is both naive and irresponsible. We have a saying on Wall Street, “trees don’t grow to the sky and neither do stocks”. At some point a “pullback” occurs and the price of a company is reset to better reflect current fair value.

The same should hold true with our school budget. It’s very disturbing to see total revenue being reduced by an estimate of $5.8mm yet the WP budget was ONLY reduced by $2.3mm. That is a huge difference… $3.5mm or 60%! I know all on the board have worked hard and long to even get to this point but unfortunately more needs to be done.

I strongly feel a more aggressive position needs to be taken with the teachers union. The time has come for all of us including the teachers to pay their fair share to both health and retirement benefits. Most folks today pay ~25% for their health care insurance. The folks of WP have been very generous to our teachers and staff members over the years. The time has come for us to reset our school budget to better reflect the current fair value otherwise the bubble we continue to feed with higher taxes will be devastating when it pops! Trust me, bubbles always POP!!